Russell Wilson is Super Bowl-The winning quarterback who has played more than 200 NFL games, but you wouldn’t know it from Mike Tomlin’s reaction to starting Wilson in place of Justin Fields.
Fields, who was leading the league in throws with 72% off the stick, has received an unprecedented amount of online support since being drafted. many steelers Fans were unhappy with the change despite Pittsburgh throwing for less than 140 yards in four of the first six games, the most such games in the NFL.
Here were some of the headlines ahead of Wilson’s Steelers’ debut in Week 7:
behind the steel curtain, Mike Tomlin is ready to hand the keys to the offense to the veteran quarterback, but are we sure the veteran isn’t ready?
Steelers Depot, For Mike Tomlin’s sake, Russell Wilson better be great
And One Steelers fan summed up the most popular argument for staying with FieldsEven by people who have spent years mocking anyone who brings up “QB Vinz”:
“I see the 4-2 record with Fields, I don’t think he should go out right now,” said Steelers fan Jeff Allen of Bulls Gap, Tenn.
It’s a strange situation in which one quarterback has an unprecedented amount of hate for a potential Hall of Famer and another has an unprecedented amount of support for someone else. Who himself said last week that he had not performed well enough to remain in office,
With a season-high for total yards after a 37-15 win, Wilson is wowing fans for the second time in his career,
Russell Wilson’s first start in 10 months
Hoping to rebuild his career in Pittsburgh, Wilson suffered a calf injury in training camp that forced him to miss three weeks of practice.So Week 7 was his preseason debut in many ways. After jeering in front of the home crowd, Wilson was given no time off during a poor first-half performance against the Jets, his first football action since his last game with the Broncos in December.
A few (admittedly ugly) throws by the Steelers and three first quarter punts later, anyone who was against the change was more than happy to shout from the rooftops that they were right and Mike Tomlin – the respected head coach – was clearly wrong. Were.
What difference does rust make?
The Steelers scored on each of their last five drives, including four touchdowns and three drives of 75+ yards. Wilson was 2 of 6 for 19 yards in the first quarter, but then went 18 of 23 for 245 yards and 2 touchdowns the rest of the way.
Yet it was a performance that very few, other than Tomlin and Wilson, claimed they wanted to see before the game. and justin fieldsAfter the game, the tune of “Tomlin is hurting the Steelers with this move” had changed significantly…
“Definitely Wilson gives the Steelers a better chance to win, we always knew that”.
The media changed tune faster than Tomlin changed quarterback, all due to Wilson’s undeniable performance, which was easy to see if not for the fact that the veteran was Wilson and the other option was Fields. If the other option had been Zach Wilson, Mac Jones, or Trey Lance – or the other option still was Kenny Pickett – there would have been no dropped jaws.
Fields was protecting the ball like he never had before and the Steelers were up 4–2 in their start. But a year ago Pickett threw only 4 interceptions in 12 starts and Pittsburgh went 7-5 in those games en route to making the playoffs, and nobody Thought Pickett should continue to start for the NFL team.
If the Steelers had Wilson last season, would they have traded for Fields as well?
russell wilson analysis
In his first start of the season, Wilson posted a +0.24 EPA per dropback, equal to the 41st best single game performance of the season. He did this while facing pressure from his 42% dropbacks and without playing a game for 10 months, which is why teams crave the experience they get from veterans like Joe Flacco, Andy Dalton and Wilson. Even if those names don’t inspire as much confidence as they did in their prime, the Colts, Panthers and Steelers were grateful to have second options who know how to prepare for Sunday.
The Steelers were finally able to run the game from under center again: Wilson was under center on 41 of 66 snaps and on play action passes under center, Wilson went 8 of 9 for 150 yards.According to Next Gen Stats, this is the most yards in play action by a Steelers quarterback since at least 2016. Wilson’s total of 264 passing yards is the most ever by a QB in his Steelers debut.
This was the game that Steelers fans needed from a quarterback that few of them would admit they wanted.
But being ignored and sometimes ridiculed is something Wilson has faced before in his career. It never bothered him. If anything, the suspicion was that the ingredient needed to motivate Wilson was missing.